The following Patents and Applications provide background information and are incorporated herein by reference in entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,584 discloses the starter apparatus for an internal combustion engine including a starter-generator including a device for rotating a flywheel to a predetermined rotational speed and a device for rotating the crankshaft of the engine to directly start the engine; at least one clutch for directly coupling or disengaging the flywheel with the crankshaft of the engine so that the flywheel starts the engine with the rotational energy stored in the flywheel by the starter-generator in an impulse starting method and a changeover device for changing between the impulse starting method based on engagement of the flywheel with the engine and a direct starting method in which the starter-generator is directly coupled to the engine, wherein the changeover device switches between the direct starting method and the impulse starting method as a function of a temperature of the engine so that the impulse starting method is used at comparatively lower temperatures and the direct-starting method is used at comparatively higher temperatures. The starter apparatus also includes a device for adaptively determining the threshold for changeover between impulse starting and direct starting.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,986 discloses an idle speed control system for a marine propulsion system that controls the amount of fuel injected into the combustion chamber of an engine cylinder as a function of the error between a selected target speed and an actual speed. The speed can be engine speed measured in revolutions per minute or, alternatively, it can be boat speed measured in nautical miles per hour or kilometers per hour. By comparing target speed to actual speed, the control system selects an appropriate pulse with length for the injection of fuel into the combustion chamber and regulates the speed by increasing or decreasing the pulse width.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,081 discloses a switch reluctance device that is used as a starter/generator for an outboard motor. The rotor of the switch reluctance device is attached to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine and serves as a flywheel for the engine. The switch reluctance device is operated in a motoring mode when it is used as a starter motor for the internal combustion engine. The switch reluctance device is operated in an electrical power generating mode when the internal combustion engine is operating above a predetermined operating speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,530 discloses an engine control strategy for a marine propulsion system that selects a desired idle speed for use during a shift event based on boat speed and engine temperature. In order to change the engine operating speed to the desired idle speed during the shift event, ignition timing is altered and the status of an idle air control valve is changed. These changes to the ignition timing and the idle air control valve are made in order to achieve the desired engine idle speed during the shift event. The idle speed during the shift event is selected so that the impact shock and resulting noise of the shift event can be decreased without causing the engine to stall.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,043,058 discloses methods and systems are for facilitating shift changes in a marine propulsion device having an internal combustion engine and a shift linkage that operatively connects a shift control lever to a transmission for effecting shift changes amongst a reverse gear, a neutral gear and a forward gear. A position sensor senses position of the shift linkage. A speed sensor senses speed of the engine. A control circuit compares the speed of the engine to a stored engine speed and modifies, based upon the position of the shift linkage when the speed of the engine reaches the stored engine speed, a neutral state threshold that determines when the control circuit ceases reducing the speed of the engine to facilitate a shift change.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,103,287 discloses drive-by-wire control systems and methods for a marine engine that utilize an input device that is manually positionable to provide operator inputs to an engine control unit (ECU) located with the marine engine. The ECU has a main processor that receives the inputs and controls speed of the marine engine based upon the inputs and a watchdog processor that receives the inputs and monitors operations of the main processor based upon the inputs. The operations of the main processor are communicated to the watchdog processor via a communication link. The main processor causes the watchdog processor to sample the inputs from the input device at the same time as the main processor via a sampling link that is separate and distinct from the communication link. The main processor periodically compares samples of the inputs that are simultaneously taken by the main processor and watchdog processor and limits the speed of the engine when the samples differ from each other by more than a predetermined amount.
European Patent No. 0352296 discloses a spark ignition interrupt system for a marine propulsion internal combustion engine to reduce engine speed and facilitate shifting of a marine propulsion transmission. Spark ignition is terminated in response to a given shift condition until engine speed drops below a given cut-in speed or until completion of the shifting, whichever occurs first. A stall interval is also started in response to the given shift condition. The engine is stalled upon completion of the stall interval if the shifting is not complete, even if engine speed has dropped below the given cut-in speed.